If you always do what you’ve always done, then you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.

2016 Predsjednički izbori: Što želimo?

“The opposite of fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.” -Neils Bohr

I&#8217;ve been thinking about the 2016 presidential election and how blacks are too focused on who we want in office when we should be more focused on what we want for our vote. Democratic politicians simply expect the black vote, like it&#8217;s inherited from their predecessor, while ignoring our concerns. Their prospects depend in large part on giving us a reason to vote and to vote in large numbers.

With Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton our vote is contingent on the lesser of two evils. As a people, as a culture, we win with neither of them. Have we not already seen the impact of this lesser of two evils political reality with one of our presidential candidate&#8217;s husband?

Blacks in America are the only people who elected officials don&#8217;t have to give anything to other than lip service. The real question is what do we want. Prvo i najvažnije, we must demand a level playing field and equal opportunity. What we have now is systemic and abject poverty, unequal schools, a biased criminal justice system, yellow-taped neighborhoods, predatory financial institutions, and exploitation.

Where are our congressional representatives? In someone&#8217;s pocket. Our elected officials are often biased against the very people who put them in office. And what do we do? We continue to vote for our oppressors.

Što želimo? Što želimo? Što želimo?

I want a level and fair start for my children. Let them fail because they were lazy not because they were never given a chance. I want police reform. I want criminal justice reform. I want my rights as an American citizen to be respected in and out of prison. I want quality health care. I want the minimum wage raised to $20 so people do not have to work eighty hours a week to barely make it. I want locally owned banks that will actually provide credit to minorities and small businesses when they need it.

Why do black people think that voting is the most they can do? When will we realize that voting is simply not enough. We vote for the politician who makes us the most promises. As soon as they get in office, they break every one. We need to hold our elected officials accountable. We must demand legislative action that s beneficial to our well-being and the safety and security of our communities. If we do not, politicians will simply continue to ignore us and treat us as less than.

Aren&#8217;t you tired of watching your people be gunned down in the street and no one but your children held accountable? Aren&#8217;t you tired of the unemployment rate for blacks almost higher than what it was for the country during the Great Depression? Aren&#8217;t you tired of your fathers, sons, brothers, ujaci, and cousins warehoused in far off neo-plantations? When will you stop being tired and do something about it? Or are you content to allow others to dictate your life?

“The political readjustment of the world means that those who are not sufficiently able, not sufficiently prepared, will be at the mercy of the organized classes for another one or two hundred years.” -Marcus Garvey (1923)

“Chance has never yet satisfied the hope of a suffering people. Action, self reliance, the vision of self ad the future have been the only means by which the oppressed have seen and realized the light of their own freedom.” -Marcus Garvey